The Locusts Inside

AN UNPROMPTED PROMPT

By the author with AI

Ringing, ringing
In my ears
Devouring hope
Defecating fears

Feasting on calm
Beneath the surface
Mindlessly executing
Primitive purpose

The locusts inside
Cohabiting sanity
Demanding their own,
Version of vanity

It’s not a plan
More like a mission
With no reason behind
Their autonomous vision

The ringing, the ringing
A hand that guides
Gnawing my soul
Revealing lies

There’s no answer
No rescuing me
If not even my mind
Is a place to be free?

The locusts, no never
Did I invite them in
Yet swarm through my veins
Crawl under my skin

The trees of my soul
Cut to the ground
While the roots
Shriek a captive’s sound

I look in the mirror
Are you questioning me?
The locusts inside
Aren’t easy to see

High pitch, low pitch
Nerves and a heartbeat
To tame an insect
A miraculous feat

The beasts unrelenting
Trapped in their kingdom
Prey to the logic
Of animal wisdom

Think for myself
How can it be?
When most of my thoughts
Weren’t made by me

The rich and the poor
All have their say
The young and the old
Can’t get their way

But without the locusts
Rearranging me
How do I get back
To when I was free?

The past isn’t gone
The future not here
The ringing, the ringing
Inside my ear

My eyes capture thoughts
Of things as they are
But my ears take in words
First from ma and pa

Brothers, then sisters
The uncle next door
And then from people
I’ve not met before

The eyes seem sure
About what is real
Unlike the words
Tainted by how they feel

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Author’s Note

In a recent conversation with

Debdutta Pal

, we concluded that bad existential poetry was the only way to live. I thus felt compelled to write this.

Off to fight the locusts, then.